Race, Gender, and the Divide
This page was written by Katherine Dotson. Introduction Digital divide is not only an economic issue but also a social inequality issue that factors in both race and gender. The digital divide continues between whites and African Americans in the United States but is not consistent across all technology platforms. The same can be said about the digital divide between men and women in the United States. However, the technology gap among race and gender can be much larger when looking at developing countries. Race Historically, whites have typically been more likely than African Americans to use the internet and have high speed broadband at home which still proves to be true. In a 2014 Pew Research Center report, they found that there is a 7-point difference between internet usage among whites and African Americans with 87% of whites using the internet compared to 80% of African Americans using the internet. This gap grows to a 12-point difference when comparing broadband internet access at home with 74% of whites and 62% of African Americans having broadband access at home. According to the most recent U.S. Census data from 2013 on computer and internet use in the United States, the gap between whites and African Americans is even larger. The U.S. Census indiciated that 76% of white households had internet while only 58% of hispanic households and 56% of African American households had the internet at home. Although American Americans are less likely than whites to use the internet and have internet access at home, they have higher levels of Twitter use. According to Pew Research Center, there is a 6-point difference in Twitter use with 16% of whites and 22% of African Americans using Twitter. The Twitter use percentages increase for African Americans ages 18-29 compared to whites of the same age. Forty-percent of African Americans ages 18-29 use Twitter while only 28% of whites ages 18-29 use it. Gender According to a 2005 Pew Research Center report, the digital gender divide has almost disappeared with women catching up to men in internet usage in the United States. Women even outnumber men in some aspects of technology usage. According to Pew (2005) and Nielsen (2012), women are more likely to blog and be avid users of social media websites. However, men still prove to be more frequent and intense users of the internet according to Pew. Computer and internet use may also still be gendered as technology appears to be largely targeted toward men. “Perceiving technology as a gendered space illuminates the ways women and men are socialized to develop different relationships with technology from childhood, at home and school” (Dixon, Correa, Straubhaar, Covarrubias, Graber, Spence, & Rojas, 2014). The digital divide means more than just literal access to technology. The digital divide also largely includes cognitive access (attitudes and anxiety) and social access (cultural norms) (Dixon et al., 2014). Women are more likely to be less confident than men and also harbor more fears about online risks (Pew Research Center, 2005; Dixon et al., 2014). In addition, social access becomes much more apparent when taking into account those, especially women, from developing countries. According to Renee Wittemyer of Intel, 23% fewer women than men are using the internet in developing countries. Further Reading * WhatIs.com * Wikipedia * Pew Research Center * Stanford.edu